William was caught in silence. This planet was far away from Hun and Sa’Ami space. “If they operated here they’d have an isolated structure to harass from, but they’d be cut off.”
Crow shrugged. “It’s what we saw, I don’t know why, but we need to get this information back and soon. They’ve got enough materials stockpiled to make one hell of a resupply base.”
All of the men stood and absorbed the news. Currently the UC held the advantage in the cold war, but if a second front was opened who knows what would happen. William pictured the spheres of influence, the UC as a giant sphere with the Sa’Ami and Hun on the far edge. Too far to ever make real use of the base on Redmond.
“It’d take them months upon months, this is a damned long voyage from Sa’Ami space, even longer from Hun. We could intercept em throughout the route,” William shook his head.
“Got me, I’m just a grunt,” Crow said with a shrug. “But we need that ship.”
William nodded and let the information digest. There were few naval assets on this edge to counter an invasion. The United Colonies would be caught in the middle. Whatever the people on this planet had endured so far would be nothing compared to when the Hun or Sa’Ami took possession. The attackers would have to pass through Gracelle and then K126 space, they’d never make it without the UC noticing. He knotted his brow and put the question behind him. No use getting worked up about something he couldn’t do anything about.
The assault teams spread into two groups on either side of the ribbon. The professionals stood in clusters of their own. The strider laid on the ground heaped with wires and plating. It was silent but held a certain aura of restrained violence.
William tore a notch in the bandages and stuffed in his pistol holster. He couldn’t quite get it to stay in place without popping out when he drew the weapon.
“What are you doing?” Sebastien asked.
“Getting ready,” William replied. He tucked in the holster once more and wedged it sideways.
“Negative. You’re not coming up till it’s clear.” Sebastien swept an arm towards the two groups. “They’re in full body armor, with shotguns, and they’ve got two arms. What are you going to do?”
William seethed but knew Sebastien was right. “Take the pistol, to hell with the armor, and give me a shotgun.” He stalked over to a case of the weapons and drew out a stubby weapon. It was heavy in his hand. “Eduardo! Get me a saw.”
“Hmm, si, over there,” Eduardo said with a preoccupied tone.
“You’re not coming. What the hell are you doing?” Sebastien asked as he followed.
William dropped the shotgun onto a plastic case and stepped on it with his good leg. He grasped the powered saw and plunged the reciprocating blade into the stock of the weapon. In a short moment the butt had dropped off. He kicked it so that it spun around and he did the same to the barrel.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sebastien said.
William hefted the ragged edge of the shotgun into his hands. It was unbalanced, rough, probably shot crooked, but it was a weapon. “How about I stay in the elevator until you clear the entry. You’re going to need someone who knows a Naval vessel.”
“I’ve got Tero, he’s a Ships Engineer.”
“You need a command officer, someone with bridge experience,” William pleaded.
“Like hell, you’re a Midshipman.”
“And how many starships have you flown?”
Sebastien glared back. “You stay in the climber until we get to the ship. If I see anyone helping you I toss your ass back into the climber. Got it?”
William nodded. “Got it.”
The climbers were loaded with the eager, the foolhardy and the desperate. They crammed behind the crates and the alloy plates and relaxed as best they could.
The strider hopped awkwardly near the door as Eduardo cursed and swore behind it. The slender limbs jerked and wavered like a man with palsy. It slowly walked forward and half collapsed, half fell, into the side of the climber. Everyone edged away as it jerked its head and had what appeared to be a mild seizure.
Eduardo walked on behind it with a small black toolbag. “How long have I got to fix this pile of shit?”
“47 minutes,” Crow replied with a serious face.
Eduardo nodded and squatted next to it. He opened a carbon panel and began digging in. O’Toole sat near the back of the strider and connected a small tablet.
A few troops remained on the ground. Von Hess was cradled in the cloth chair as he communicated with Eduardo in a rapid banter. Beside him sat Tik and Xan. Militia, civilians, and the occasional child clustered into the control room and watched.
The doors slid shut against heavy alloy bumpers and sealed with a dull boom of pressurized air. The climber clanged for a moment and began the steady rise upwards.
The city came into view as a ragged mess of rubble, smoke, and the construction of desperation. Beyond it the farms and pastures winked emerald before giving way to the haze and low clouds. Everything disappeared. Only a featureless haze blustered outside the window.
William stretched his good arm and patted the ragged butt of the shotgun that was tucked into a bandage tied as a belt. The steel taste came back into his mouth. Finally, back into space.
He could sense the nervousness in the militia around him. Some laughed and stomped and shifted. Most stood silently and stared at nothing. One man sat down and began to sob.
The climber broke through the low cloud cover in an eruption of light. Below them stretched a quilt of fluffy white with a breakthrough of bright green. The curvature of the planet blended into high clouds. They were gaining altitude and fast.
The floor pushed harder against Williams feet as the rate of acceleration continued. His knees grew sore as he shifted his weight.
“The air is thinner, we can go a helluva lot faster,” Aleksandr said to a civilian.
William settled in and squeezed his toes tight against his boots. The smell of the elevator began to hit him as the fear grew.
An alarm clanged. A buzzing sensation passed through Williams legs and the acceleration dropped in intensity.
“The field shifted, one G for us, another to slow the car,” Aleksandr said as he hopped and stretched. “It used to be topsy-turny time and a bit of freefall, now the Gracelle fields shift it all. Took the thrill out of it.”
William wasn’t sure about a thrill. The feeling of two different accelerations made his stomach queasy as the field shifted and pulsed. How much longer? They must almost be there. He looked to Sebastien who rested back against the alloy barrier and had his eyes closed. Was he sleeping?
Crow clicked through onto the comms. “Two minutes, safeties off, time to wake up.”
Sebastien blinked his eyes open and stifled a yawn. William wondered how anyone could sleep. Though he knew if he had much more time he’d surely collapse.
“Eduardo, you got that thing working?” Crow asked.
Eduardo shook his head without turning to face Crow.
“Listen up, once the doors open the heavies go out and everyone else follows. Push the crates. Stay behind the alloy. Get spread out,” Crow said.
Sebastien stood and grasped the handle of an alloy plate. Even he could barely budge it, but he could damn well slide it.
As suddenly as it began the car stopped and the second field dissipated. William felt the bile rise. The taste of rye flooded through his mouth. His ears popped as the air pressures equalized.
“Ready! Move on my call!” Crow yelled.
The air buzzed with the energy of the men tethered and waiting like a stampede at the gate. The door popped open a fraction of an inch, paused, and slid gracefully away.
The immediate sound of gunfire and the ricocheting of plastic balls careened into the climber. William hissed as one struck his chest but the energy had been drawn out in a ricochet.
Sebastien grunted and began driving the alloy plate forward. Men streamed behind him. As soon as the pl
ate cleared the door the militia opened fire into everything, everywhere. Flechettes flew in the wide expanse before them.
The space was almost cavernous. What had once been a colony ship was now an orbital platform. Stacked all around were containers and netted dunnage. Some looked old while most looked fresh and new. The defenders were well placed and hidden throughout.
William waited and watched as the troops streamed forward. He could picture the same thing happening directly behind him as the other climber came into position. The concussions of the shotguns in the close quarters made his ears ring. He drew the shotgun from his waist and crouched near the door.
Sebastien had gone ten meters and stopped. He released the alloy plate and pulled out his shotgun. Plastic balls bounced with a dull sound against the alloy plate. A militia man was slammed back and laid in a heap with an egg shaped divot in his forehead.
Crow sprinted into a heap of netted dunnage. Leduc was on his heels with a pack of militia. The militia fired wildly while the professionals kept the weapon at or near the shoulder and fired with more precision. The defenders slowly pulled back but not without driving up the butchers bill.
Men lay in groups or alone, dead or dying. The armor worked wonders but the kinetic energy contained in the spheres was enough to knock a man to his knees.
William crept out from the climber and joined a group of militia who were spraying flechettes in the direction of a particularly large container. Behind it a fully armored man popped out and sprayed the spheres at them.
A man squirmed at William’s feet with his Adams apple pushed into his throat. A deep purple-black bruise was already spreading as the man grasped and flailed at his closed airway. William dropped the shotgun next to the man and squeezed the cartilage back open a with an audible crunch. The man sucked air in gasps and wheezes.
Screams came from his right. William picked up the shotgun. A small shape, the size of an armored dog, jumped off of the top of a container and ran along the side of the next. Flechettes bounced off of the beasts armored flanks as it bored down on a group of militia. William watched in horror as it set upon them like a wild animal, thrashing and flaying at men with claws of alloy.
“Smash it!” Selim yelled as he charged forward. He gripped his shotgun like a mallet grasping the short barrel.
The creature turned, hopped, and shifted away before disappearing over the top of a container. Selim tucked himself tight against the container. Dead men were scattered about his feet. More screams came from further down. He stood and sprinted into the fray.
William poked his head up and tried to squeeze a round off at the armored defender. He slowly squeezed the trigger and found himself lying on his back. He thought for a second that he was shot in the face but realized that the recoil of the pistol had flipped the barrel back and it had cracked him on the bridge of his nose. Blood streamed down into his mouth.
“Get clear!” Eduardo clicked over the comms.
The Sa’Ami strider erupted from the mouth of climber and leaped onto the top of a container. It paused for a moment before prowling down and disappearing into the maze of containers. Screams rose from the other side of the hall.
“Go go!” Crow yelled as the combined teams spread out and moved forward.
William crouched and ran behind the men before him directly to where the defender was. They turned the corner with weapons drawn and found a corpse with the armor collapsed by a blunt force. They continued forward.
A horrible screech and bang greeted William as he turned the next container. The enemy strider, smaller and bulkier, was squaring off against the larger one. William slid himself around the container and watched as they engaged.
The Sa’Ami strider hopped up and bounded to the side of the dog like unit. The dog-strider snapped around and delivered a steely caress that sent the Sa’Ami strider off to the side. It skittered on the decking and charged back in.
Flechettes and the plastic balls impacted on both of the striders as they came in together. The speed at which the limbs pumped and slammed was but a blur. The dog-strider slipped loose and pulsed in between the arms of the Sa’Ami strider only to find the legs had flipped up and over. Now the long arms of the Sa’Ami strider were able to keep the dog-strider at bay.
One arm clenched the alloy spine and pinned the thrashing beast as the other arm pulsed against the seams of the body like an unrelenting blacksmiths hammer. The metal seam parted and the dog-strider thrashed wildly until it buckled and was still.
“Move!” Crow yelled.
The combined forces surged ahead with the form of the Sa’Ami strider bouncing into the cover leaving nothing behind. They found fewer defenders as they moved cautiously up towards the rear of the docking station.
They trailed the strider through the now silent docking station. The hatch leading to the boarding tube was open, but hanging askew. The Marines entered first through the zero-g tunnel. The militia waited cautiously with William.
Avi exited back into the docking station and found William waiting. “C’mon Mr. Grace! Make a hole!” He shoved the ambling militia away and darted back into the tunnel.
William pushed past the militia and stepped off of the orange line marking the end of gravity and propelled himself through the zero gravity. At the opposite end, another orange line was above him that marked the start of ships gravity. He tucked, laid his feet out and made the seamless transition. Except up was now down.
He pushed through the narrow corridors and followed behind Avi who was running ahead. It was narrow, tight, constricting. The air had a scent of spiced cookies with a hint of steamed dinner. The ship was familiar to a point, it was not of Human design, but that of the mechanical K742. Glances of consoles told of a Gracelle hand in the design as well. It took everything he had not to stop and check it out.
The corridor opened up into a wider common area with crates and containers secured to the deck above and below. It was common practice to load ships in zero-gravity. No use in letting the ceilings go to waste. William edged his way through the tight space and caught up with Avi.
The strider was tucked up into a fetal position at the entrance to the command room. Inside stood Sebastien and Selim. William caught glimpses of other Soldiers and Marines sweeping through the ship. An almond skinned woman in a blue jumpsuit sat on the floor. Behind her laid a dead man with carbon pads on his temples.
“Mr. Grace, this is Captain Melati,” Sebastien said.
William looked down at the woman. She looked upwards with deep brown eyes. “Ma’am, in the name of the United Colonies I am taking possession of your ship.” The words rolled out of his mouth and he felt surprised saying them.
She winced as he spoke and nodded. “May I collect my husband?”
William looked to Sebastien.
Sebastien pointed to the dead man with carbon pads.
“Sergeant Selim, get a detail here to bring out the body.” William walked past the woman. The bridge was sparse and relatively simple. The K742 design philosophy was simplicity and minimalism. A simple system that would fail in a simple way. Curved screens were dark around him. He sat at the center console and laid a hand on the granite like plate.
Lights flashed and flickered before settling into a steady state. To the right and left appeared system diagnostics with a simple map of the planet and moon. William snapped his head around to the woman. Her eyes smoldered with hatred.
“Sebastien!” He snapped. “Get everyone into this ship now, we’ve got a marauder inbound.” The projected course of the marauder brought it directly to the docking station.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Space
The bridge glowed with a subtle intensity. The illuminated screens gave just the basics about each and every subsystem. Only in the event of failure would they relay more. Information overload had become the greatest threat to the proper operation of a starship.
William sat at the center console and pored over the gravity well chart before him.
Dimples sat next to puddles which orbited spheres. Slender lines appeared, disappeared, and reformed in a different direction. He concentrated on each route as quickly as he could, slowly dropping everything into a wider view.
“William?” Xan said as he slid into console.
“Oh shit!” William said. “You scared me.”
Xan smiled and fired up the console. “Well, this is more like it.” His hands danced over the screen. “We’ve got full comms!” He stopped, leaned forward, and tapped the granite. “Oh my. I found our orbital batteries.”
“What?” William turned. “Can you transfer the plot?”
Xan nodded. “Coming right up.”
A series of icons blinked onto the screen above William. Each was in a low orbit, almost to the point of decay. “Have you seen Tero?”
“He’s checking on the Haydn.”
William nodded. “Comms are up yes? Bound on the table?”
“Bindings are up. Give it a try.”
William tabbed on a dull red icon projected onto the console. “Tero, you getting me?”
“Oh. Hey! You chose a good ship to steal!” Tero replied.
“How’s it look down there? I’m showing a standard drive, is it ready to go?”
“As far as I can tell. K743 all the way through, it’s old, but all of their stuff is.”
“Get ready to move, we’re going to embark shortly.”
“What? Already? We just got here.”
William slid his hand across the console once, twice, a third time before scrolling down with his fingertips. A full list of ships provisions was displayed before him. He nodded his head quickly.
William turned to Xan, “Ship wide broadcast open?”
“One second…” Xan tapped a few more buttons.
A white icon appeared on the console. William slapped at it. “All hands to the bridge.”
William sat back and watched as the projected trajectories converged in front of him. He didn’t like any of the choices, but he liked the thought of staying even less. The marauder inbound was a Hun Heavy Cruiser, large enough to carry a full compliment of troops and designed for harassment.
Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far) Page 21